"fitting the task to the person." Ergonomics, as defined by the Board of Certification for Professional Ergonomists (BCPE), "is a body of knowledge about human abilities, human limitations and human characteristics that are relevant to design. Ergonomic design is the application of this body of knowledge to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for safe, comfortable and effective human use". The term ergonomics is derived from the Greek word ergos meaning "work" and nomos meaning "natural laws of" or "study of." The profession has two major branches with considerable overlap. One discipline, sometimes referred to as "industrial ergonomics," or "occupational biomechanics," concentrates on the physical aspects of work and human capabilities such as force, posture, and repetition. A second branch, sometimes referred to as "human factors," is oriented to the psychological aspects of work such as mental loading and decision-making. The profession is comprised of practicing and academic engineers, safety professionals, industrial hygienists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurse practitioners, chiropractors, and occupational medicine physicians. History of Ergonomics.Christensen, an expert in the said field, points out that the importance of a "good fit" between humans and tools was probably realized early in the development of the species. Indeed cavemen are known to have selected stone tools and made scoops from antelope bones in a clear display of selecting/creating objects to make tasks easier to accomplish. In the work environment, the selection and creation of tools, machines, and work processes continued. Over centuries, the effectiveness of hammers, axes and plows improved. With the Industrial Revolution, machines such as the spinning jenny (a machine that produced yarn to make cloth) and rolling mills (a method of flattening iron ore into flat sheets) were developed to improve work proc...
